


The Lone Adventurer

by orphan_account



Series: Cast Out [1]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: AU, Fíli and Kíli are adorable, I suck at summeries, M/M, Thorin can't handle sass thrown at him, part of a series, sassy!bilbo, yes it's another
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-29
Updated: 2013-06-29
Packaged: 2017-12-16 13:43:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/862691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After not finding Bilbo Baggins at Bag End, but an angry Lobelia, Gandalf decides to go without the hobbit. That doesn't mean the company won't find him later on...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lone Adventurer

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, thanks for clicking on my story even if the summary sucks. I'm not a native speaker and I haven't had someone reading it over. So please, if you find anything, just message me or tell me in the comments.  
> It's my first published story, too, so I would be glad about well meant criticism. Hope you enjoy and excuse a bit OOC-ness.

Gandalf might not be the only one, who watched over Middle Earth, but there still was evil in the world, and he couldn’t ignore it. So as he heard from Thorins intention to reclaim his homeland back, he went to meet him and offer his help. That’s what wizards were for, right?

The future king seemed pleased and accepted the offer with only a bit of suspicion left in his eyes. Gandalf was a bit surprised they only managed to find 12 other interested, but he had another idea in mind. Thorin wasn’t really happy about having a hobbit in their group, and told him that in a straightforward manner, but trusted him on the decision. 

They would need a burglar after all and the arguments were plausible. While Thorin welcomed his dwarfs in Bree, Gandalf wandered into The Shire and looked for Bilbo Baggins. He had been adventuring with his mother a long time ago, and after she had settled down, he sometimes had visited the little fauntling.

Too late the wizard remembered he didn’t know the way, and the hobbits he had asked, answered, but looked at him as if he was crazy. He heard them muttering about why he wanted to visit that special estate, and shook their heads at him.

Gandalf had found he was clueless about this behaviour, and frowned. Only as he was walking up to Bag End, realisation hit him.

Where in the past had been a flower bed, now stood a scarecrow above a patch of wilted grass. Angrily stomping up the small path up to the entrance, he heavily knocked onto the door a few times. He heard a surprised squeak coming from inside, and a moment later the door opened hesitantly to reveal a female hobbit. Gandalfs brushy eyebrows shot up and disappeared underneath the brim of his hat. He cleared his throat.

“Excuse me, where can I find Bilbo Baggins?”The curious expression on the females face morphed into a mask of anger.

“He’s not here! Has not been in a decade! What do you want from him anyway? This disgrace wouldn’t even deserve to live here!”

The statement followed a baffled silence. 

“Do you mean to tell me Bilbo Baggins doesn’t deserve to live in his parent’s estate? The one he was the only heir to?”The wizard’s voice got angrier with every word, and a shadow expanded around them, making the old man seem only taller. Lobelia squeaked again and shut the green, round door closed.

Annoyed, Gandalf shook his head and made his way back to Bree. The hobbits stumbled out of the wizard’s way as he stomped by, scared for their life as they saw the thunderous expression on his face.

His mood didn’t really clear up as he met up with the dwarfs again. Even Thorin acted cautiously around him, sensing at the lack of hobbit that he was not pleased indeed. He himself was relieved at the fact that they wouldn’t have to take a burdensome halfling with them. Only later did they found out that Gandalf didn’t even meet the hobbit in the first place.

 

They had been a month into their travels, as they first heard the singing. It was nothing familiar to a dwarfish song, but not unpleasant to listen to. Thorin held up a hand and ordered his company to curb their ponies. The dwarves send their leader questioning glances, which he didn’t return. He turned in his saddle, to talk to the wizard in their group, whose attention was clearly elsewhere.

Thorin scowled impatiently and coughed, trying to get the wizard to look at him. Not even casting a single glance at him, Gandalf dismounted from his horse and disappeared between the trees.

After silently cursing into his beard, Thorin said: “Dwalin, Bofur, with me. The rest will stay here and watch our mounts. Damned wizard...”

Watching their friends go after the wizard, the company dismounted and got together in their usual groups. Bifur took to watching the path they were currently taking, while the others tried to make themselves as comfortable as possible.

“Hey Fili, the singing has stopped. You think Gandalf found the source?”Kili still bounced up and down in his saddle, looking excitedly at his brother.

“Well, I guess. Or they ran away. They certainly didn’t sound like a dwarf.”Fili answered, but his brow furrowed. “What if it was magic?”A large grin stretched across his face, matching that of his brother.

“Lads, there’s no need to exaggerate. Just wait ‘til they come back.” Balin reprimanded, even as he looked a bit worried himself. 

The brothers shrugged, but otherwise showed no reaction to what had been said. Kili finally managed to get down from his pony and settled himself next to his brother on the ground.  
So waiting it was, huh, thought Kili, as his head slowly sank onto his brother’s shoulder and his eyes grew heavier with each passing second. Just a quick nap, nothing more...

It wasn’t a long trip through the woods, but nevertheless they didn’t spot Gandalf again until they burst into an open clearing. The wizard stood in the middle of it, but turned around, as he heard them coming near. He didn’t seem happy at all. Thorin tore his eyes away from the sad expression Gandalf wore and took a look around. Slowly he stepped forward and saw a sort of rope hanging from a branch. He went to look at it, while conversation flowed behind him.

“Gandalf, are you sure the singing came from here?”Bofur looked concerned. “Maybe it was...”

“No, master dwarf, it came from here!” Gandalf cut him off, angrily. He’d been so sure. And he knew the voice. How could he forget it?

“Well, someone has been here. The trail of blood is still fresh and the rope here shows signs of a clean cut. Whoever’s been here cut themselves free and walked away.”Thorin said from his point near the trees. “We need to be careful.”

“It is decided! Thorin, and I, we shall follow the trail, while you, Dwalin and Bofur, go and take the others to this clearing and we’ll meet later at this place.” The wizard didn’t bother to wait for an answer and went deeper into the forest.

Dwalin and Bofur cast their leader a questioning glance, but Thorin just nodded and went after Gandalf. 

“I wanted to be there, too! This is so mysterious and exciting, don’t ya think?”

“Not really, no. We need to keep going. I dunno why Thorin suddenly is so curious about blood stains and singing. This is ridiculous.”

Dwalin grunted unhappily. He couldn’t really understand why any of this was necessary. Annoyed, he shook his head, and Bofur knew not to provoke him further. The bald dwarf might have been very loyal, but that didn’t mean he had to share his king’s opinion.

Soon, Dwalin spotted his brother through the line of trees and picked up his pace. Balin smiled relieved when he saw his brother coming, but the warrior came straight to the point.

“We need to move. Gandalf found a clearing and some hints of a wounded. He and Thorin followed the unknown person and we are to meet them back at the place we split up.”

“Why did they go without you and Bofur?”Balin asked, confused about the turn of events.

“I guess he doesn’t think they are of any danger to us. And well, Thorin surely doesn’t want to go on without the wizard. We need his help, after all.”Bofur interjected as Dwalin opened his mouth to speak.

Instead he just sighed and went to pack his stuff and shoulder it. In passing he noticed the two brothers sleeping half on top of each other and gave each of them a kick.

It was amusing to see the two of them struggle to get away from each other as they thought that there was any danger and Dwalin allowed himself a little smirk. 

After they had managed to detangle themselves, Fili and Kili looked around them confusedly. So as not to seem totally stupid, they just did what everyone did and took the reins of their ponies and went after them, into the forest and away from the relative safeness of the path.

“Hey Fili, d’you know what’s going on?”Kili whispered, not wanting to be heard, even as they walked at the very end of the group.

“No idea. And where’s uncle? And the wizard? This is all very suspicious.” He paused for a few seconds. “But don’t worry. Everyone doesn’t look concerned at all. We’ll just have to wait.”

And wait they did once they’ve reached the clearing Dwalin had mentioned earlier. Again, they settled down and Bombur got a fire going, assuming they would stay there for the day. At the horizon, you could see the first rays of sunshine disappearing behind the trees.

Soon, they all sat around the campfire and waited for Bombur and Bofur to finish cooking, talking and singing all the while among each other. Some of them grew restless pretty soon, but just as they were ready to leave and look for their leader, Thorin came into view.

He didn’t stop to greet his companions, but ordered Dwalin and Dori to scout the woods around them. “We assume there are wargs near. Most of them are already dead, but still. I don’t need to tell you to be careful.”

The dwarfs nodded solemnly and quickly disappeared between the trees.

“Thorin, where is Gandalf?” Balin asked him worriedly. “Do we need to find a safer place?”

“The wizard should be here any moment now. We’ll stay here until tomorrow morning, and then we’ll see how things are progressing.”

The king sat down on a fallen log outside the dwarf’s gathering and watched the point he expected Gandalf to come through. Silently he accepted the stew Bofur brought along, but didn’t tear his eyes away from their fixed place. The curious glances sent his way he ignored. 

At long last, Gandalf did appear, but not alone. He carried something very small; it almost disappeared in the long grey robes of his. Not wasting any time he strode to the campfire and everyone quickly scrambled away creating place for the wizard to lay down his bundle. Carefully, Gandalf lowered what appeared to be a male hobbit with simple clothing onto to the ground and the dwarfs curiously stepped forward again to inspect this new addition to their group. They didn’t get to see more of him, because soon Gandalf shooed all of them except Oin away.   
The healer quickly noticed the blood seeping through the fabric of one of the sleeves and took to carefully take the garment off of his patient. He only wore a waistcoat and underneath a white shirt, stained from the various things it had to go through, now added to the long list was blood. 

“Not only has the loss of blood, but exhaustion, too, has lead to his unconsciousness. The cut is not very deep, either. I’ll just have to sew a few stitches and then he’ll be fine. A good night’s rest and a proper meal will help, too.”Oin explained and Gandalf heaved a great sigh of relief. “He’s so thin. I’m almost worried I could break him.” Oin added half jokingly.   
So the healer started to patch up the being in front of him and only once looked up, namely as Thorin settled next to Gandalf, who cast their leader a surprised, but approving glance. Thorin didn’t notice though, because his gaze was levelled at the hobbit male before them. 

Only as Dwalin and Dori came back from their scouting, he looked expectantly at the taller dwarf.

“We found two dead wargs. We went deeper, but found none other. There were signs of a fight, but whoever killed these beasts knew how to do it.”

Thorin nodded in reply and let them settle down and get food. Once he knew they were cared for, he glanced at the hobbit before him again. He could hear his company whispering and speculating behind him, but he couldn’t really blame them. He wasn’t going to tell them, though. If anyone should do it, then it was the wizard. He had strayed from the path in the first place. They have lost a half’s day worth of riding just because Gandalf had to look after a singing hobbit. 

He could admit that there was something different about this one. All of the hobbits he came across as he travelled through the shire looked perfectly healthy, if not a bit round, but this one looked as if he hadn’t had a full meal in a long while.

From what the wizard assumed, the Halfling had to be the one to kill the two wargs. Probably got surprised by one of them whilst wandering through the woods or taking a nap and barely evaded a mortal wound. He made quick work of the first one and waited for the second one to come, and killed the beast then by surprise, though he was careless and got a scratch before the warg finally died, was what he had gathered from Dwalins more detailed explanation he shared with everyone who wanted to listen. And the rest... well, they would probably hear it once the Halfling had woken up in the morning.

Thorin didn’t move from his place near the hobbit until it got dark and most of the company had settled down. It was time to lie down and get some sleep, if he wanted to continue their journey the next day. He trusted the wizard to stay put.

So he spread his bedroll next to the fire and his nephews. Despite wanting to feel indifferent towards the creature they saved, he couldn’t help but feel curious and even a little bit apprehensive, and even wanted to get to know this hobbit better. And it made him angry. This wasn’t him. Forcing himself to sleep, he heaved a long suffering sigh and closed his eyes.

The next morning, he woke up to an unknown but pleasant sounding voice loudly cursing “Shit!”

 

It was ridiculous, Bilbo thought, he was just minding his own business, got attacked by wargs and managed to stumble into his own trap. To calm himself down, he started to sing. Nothing extraordinary, but a song his mother taught him when he was a wee child.

Hearing something or someone running through the under wood, and obviously towards him, he quickly cut himself down from the branch he’d been hanging from upside down. The landing made him a bit dizzy, but he managed to get up and walk away. He couldn’t risk another attack, not while his arm still bled and hurt like someone cut right through it.

The more he walked, the dizzier he got, until there was just blackness and he realized that he must have fallen unconscious. 

Slowly waking up, he blinked lazily as the morning sun reached his eyes and they tried to accustom to the bright light. Carefully he looked around and noticed people sleeping around him. He frowned. He didn’t remember being with someone yesterday. Hell, it’s been a few days since he last had someone to talk to! 

Panicking, he quickly sat up and cried out a curse as pain shot through his arm and body. He breathed heavily so he didn’t hear the dwarfs waking up and curiously watching him.   
“Bilbo, my boy, you are awake then. I was worried you’d never open your eyes again.” Spoke an old voice right next to him and Bilbo jumped.

As he turned his head, he was met with grey robes and was forced to look up.

“Who are you and why do you know me?”He asked through gritted teeth.

The old man chuckled. “I was a friend of your mother’s. I didn’t find you at Bag End and nobody knew where you were, so I’m glad I found you. I am Gandalf, and Gandalf means me.”

“Well, then. Thank you, Gandalf, for taking care of me, but now I have to go.” Only then he noticed something warm still covering his legs. A fur coat. He blinked at it. Then he shrugged it off and folded it neatly beside himself.

Wincing from the pain still in his arm, he stood up and looked a bit more closely at his surroundings. He obviously was in a make shift camp of sorts, which occupants were surprisingly enough dwarfs and a wizard he knew from childhood. 

They were all watching him now and he started to feel uncomfortable. “Where is my waistcoat?”

“I’m sorry, but we had to use it to stop the blood flow from your wound. You wouldn’t be able to wear it now, so we disposed of it.”Still only the wizard answered him, but what seemed to be the younger ones tried hard not to ask questions. He furrowed his brow and sighed.

He turned to look at Gandalf, with whom he was now eye to eye. “My lute? My dagger?” 

While the wizard rummaged in the long robes of his, Bilbo rolled up his sleeves to get a better look at the stitching he could feel with his every move. He carefully moved his arm and watched the skin around the stitches. Once satisfied, he looked up again and was given his items.

Now that he had everything, he had every intention to go, but the wizard stopped him.

“We saved your life, and now you are our indebted. Why don’t you tell these nice dwarfs your name?”

Bilbo shot the wizard a dark look, but complied nonetheless. He bowed and said: “Bilbo Baggins, at your service.”

One of the dwarfs, tall, with dark locks, made his way over and stopped right in front of him. He introduced himself.

“Thorin Oakenshield, at your service.” As he bowed, he held eye contact with Bilbo, and the hobbit didn’t know whether to be flattered or act unimpressed. Thorin watched him as if he was the most fascinating creature he had ever seen and Bilbo couldn’t remember ever being looked at in this way. He just couldn’t tear his eyes away, equally as interested as the dwarf before him.

Gandalf coughed rather loudly and shook Bilbo out of his reverie. Blushing, and quickly casting his glance elsewhere, he heard the wizard say: “I think it’s time for the others to introduce themselves.”

Interested again, he nodded at each of them as they bowed and tried to remember the names, which wasn’t easy at all. They all seemed to be related, judging by the familiar sounding names. 

Some of them grinned at him, some didn’t even blink while they stared and then there was Mr. Oakenshield whose gaze was all-consuming, which had Bilbo fidgeting on the spot.

“What do you need my help for, Gandalf? I need to be elsewhere.”

“Where is elsewhere, if I may ask?” The wizard sounded far too amused for Bilbo to feel comfortable.

“That’s none of your business!”He snapped. “So?” He then prompted, lifting a brow.

The wizard sighed. He sensed that this wouldn’t be as easy as he had hoped. 

“We’re on a quest to slay a dragon that is currently resting inside The Lonely Mountain. We need your help. A dragon won’t know the smell of a hobbit and you are remarkably light on your feet. You should be able to sneak in.”

Bilbo looked at Gandalf as if he was crazy. He cleared his throat. “Good gracious...! You are absolutely serious. Tell me one reason I should run into certain death.”

The answer came swiftly. “A journey you always wanted to be a part of and a reliable food source.”

Bilbo ran a hand through his curly hair and noticed a pair of eyes following the move. Annoyed, he sharply turned his head and glared at Thorin. “Stop staring, you confounded dwarf! That’s not proper. Didn’t your mother tell you this?”

The dwarf’s eyes widened comically and a faint blush covered his cheeks after that statement. The others started to snicker, but that quickly died down as Thorin glared darkly at them. They didn’t stop smiling, though. 

“I like that one. Haven’t seen Thorin so embarrassed in a few decades.”Dwalin murmured, and the dwarfs around who heard him grinned even larger.

Bilbo sat down again and sighed.

“Just to be clear. I’m doing this for Gandalf.”He announced loudly.

He heard a few happy shouts from the dwarfs, and even Thorin seemed to have a smile pulling at his lips. But that couldn’t be, right? Why would they be happy to have him? Hadn’t he just insulted one of them? Silly dwarfs, he couldn’t understand them. He probably never would.

“Give him the contract, Balin.”Thorin announced in a festive sort of voice, and he was shaken out of his reverie. 

“A contract?”Bilbo repeated reproachfully. “Gandalf, what are you pulling me into?”

“An adventure.”Gandalf replied helpfully.

“I’m going to regret it, I just know it.”The Hobbit muttered as he read through the given contract. Distantly he noticed that it suddenly got very quiet around him. He could literally feel the 14 pairs of eyes on him. 

“Someone got something to write for me?”He finally asked and was met with relieved sighs. He frowned. 

Getting a pen from Balin and putting his signature down, he was officially part of a suicide mission. Wonderful. 

“I don’t know why I am doing this. I am already adventuring.” Grumbling he gave the contract back and was instantly swept up in a hug by Fili and Kili. 

“Thanks Mr. Boggins!”They cried out in unison and swirled him around as if he weighed nothing. Bilbo had to clutch at the blonds arm to keep him at least a bit grounded. 

Once they’ve put him back on the ground, he mumbled disbelievingly: “It’s Baggins.”

It’s only morning and Bilbo Baggins was already pissed off.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
